To Looking Up
by notdonewithyou
Summary: Captain Swan AU: In a last ditch effort to have a good time on New Year's Eve, Emma tries her luck at one last bar before she heads home for the night. Little did she know there would be a bartender in this one, ready to sweep her off her feet after he was caught up in her spell. Co-written with JollyMyRoger


_Killian glanced up from cleaning the glass in his hands to see a blonde enter the bar. He smiled slightly to himself, she was stunning, before going back to cleaning off the glass. The bar was fairly crowded, a given since it was New Year's, but it had died down a bit for now. There was an hour until the ball dropped and that means there was mostly conversation and a few of the more inebriated individuals were dancing in the booths or on the barstools. Killian placed the glass on the bar and then dropped to a crouch with a grunt, his fingertips ghosting over the bottles below as he found another bottle of scotch. Returning back to his feet, he placed the bottle on the bar and picked back up his rag, rubbing off some spilled something or other on its dark brown surface._

**_Emma Swan walked into the third bar of the night. It was one of the few bars that seemed to have a few less people, and after being ditched by her friend at the previous bar for a New Year's hook up, Emma just wanted as quiet of a drink as she could get on a night like this. She navigated her way through the small groups of chatting people, doing her best to avoid bumping into the people on the drunk side of the spectrum. She reached the bar with surprising ease and quickly took her seat on one of the stools lining it. She pulled at the hem of her dress, making sure it didn't ride up too much. She started to signal for the bartender to come down to her, but her line of vision was blocked by a younger man who looked like he'd been plucked from a frat party._**

**_"Hellooo, gorgeousss." His speech was slurred, and Emma could smell the alcohol on his breath, even from the distance he was. "Can I buy you a drink?"_**

**_Emma gave him a sideways glance, not sparing him too much attention. "I'm fine, thank you." She started to signal the bartender again, but the man pushed her arm down._**

**_"Come onnn, babe! Just a drink." His smile sat lazily on his face. He let his almost empty glass clank against the bar._**

_The rap of a glass against the bar drew Killian's attention. With a rather annoyed sigh he moved down to where the blonde was being harassed by one of the frat idiots who came down to the Fairy because they were looking for a 'vintage' experience or some bullshit. Killian rapped his knuckles against the bar as he drew close, trying to draw the idiot's attention away and give the woman a chance to breathe._

_"How about you back right off," Killian ordered sharply, catching the mouth breather off his guard. Killian drew to a stop in front of the blonde and smiled sympathetically before turning to her hanger-on and drawling out," We have a no harassment policy here, don't make me enforce it." He pulled out the knife used to cut limes from the sheath in his back pocket and set it down gently on the bar. "The policy is that the lady being harassed gets to choose whether she or I stabs you," Killian told the man quite seriously._

**_The accent that flowed out of his mouth shocked her before the words he was saying registered with her. She acknowledged his smile, mouthing a 'thank you', and found it hard to keep a straight face when he placed it on the bar, giving the young patron a stern look. It was a bit on the dramatic side, but Emma assumed that it was an effective technique. When the bartender finished his 'harassment policy' speech, she looked at the young man giving him an expectant look. "It's your choice, really."_**

**_He looked between Emma and the bartender before rolling his eyes and draining the rest of his glass. "Fuck this," he said, nudging her shoulder as he walked past her._**

**_Emma steadied herself before turning back to the bartender. "Thank you for that. Fourth time in the third bar. Is there something about me that says, 'I'm desperate. Please hit on me.' If there is, I need to fix that soon." She stopped quickly, realizing she was starting to ramble. "I'm Emma," she said sheepishly, holding out her hand._**

_"Killian," he answered with another smile as he gave her hand a gentle shake. "And no, you have a 'I'm gorgeous and utterly irresistible' vibe," he told her smoothly with a smirk. Plucking the knife off the bar and sliding it back into the sheath, he met her eyes again and asked, "So what can I do you for?" His tone had a salacious edge to it and he gave her a slow slow wink as he canted his head away._

**_Emma blinked rapidly, stunned by the bluntness of his comment. She normally would have brushed the compliment off, but there was something about him that made her all flustered. She felt a strange comfort with him and let a smile make its way to her face when he winked at her. Her eyes vaguely scanned the drinks behind him before meeting his gaze once more. "Got any MacCutcheon?"_**

_"Oh of course, we'd be lost without it," Killian answered her cheerily as he turned around and took a few steps down the bar to grab it off the shelf. Snatching a glass as he headed back down and deposited it in front of Emma, pouring a fifth of the whiskey in without even a glance down at what he was doing, his eyes all on the blonde. Yeah, he was showing off._

**_Emma's eyes never left his as he filled her glass, a smirk threatening to show itself. She thought for a minute about calling him out on his little 'trick', but decided she'd just let him have it. Confidence was attractive on him, and it made her want to know more about him. She spared a glance at her glass before looking back up. "Care to fill it up a bit more? It's been a long night."_**

_He gave her a little half-bow before obliging, filling the glass up to halfway. Setting the bottle down, he glanced down both sides of the bar before leaning forward onto it. "Now what on Earth could be troubling someone like you on a night as fine as this? Boyfriend troubles?" Killian inquired, his voice nonchalant._

**_Emma picked up the glass, swirling the liquid inside for a second before taking a sip, relishing in the burn for a second. She gave Killian a small smile. "No boyfriend to give me troubles. My friend and I were out, and she ditched me at the last bar we were at." She took another long sip before setting the glass down. "I'm sure she's having a better time than I am." She bit her lip and internally grimaced at her own words. "No offense."_**

_Killian smiled widely at her as he responded, "None taken. I'm man enough to admit that a conversation with me doesn't compare to a nice tumble through the sheets." He reached under the bar and pulled out a shot glass, filling it with the whiskey and toasting her before downing it._

**_Emma shook her head, trying to recover her thoughts. "I didn't… I wasn't saying you were boring or anything. And I'm not saying that she's having fun because she's having sex and I'm not. She just left me alone. Again." Emma raised her glass back to him and finished off the drink._**

_"Well I can tell she made the shit decision, you're a hell of a lot more captivating than some random barfly," he stated in a tone that brooked no argument. Killian refilled his shot glass and then dangled the bottle in front of himself, quirking an eyebrow in question to Emma._

**_Emma smiled at his words and held out her glass, throwing caution to the wind. If she was going to be out on New Year's, she was going to enjoy it. "Maybe so, but hey," she said, toying with her glass a bit, "things might be looking up soon."_**

_Killian's smile lit up his face as he filled her glass again, a stupid smile really, but he couldn't help it. He had just met the girl but there was just something about her, something that drew her in like nothing had in a long time. And what the hell? It was New Year's, new beginnings or at least a night of excitement and celebrations. He picked up his shot glass and raised it in toast, "To looking up."_

_**The smile on his face was quickly mirrored on her own. His carefree attitude was so contagious that she couldn't help but already begin to enjoy her night. That's what it was, his smile and his attitude. She wanted to know him. She wanted to know his story. He was a bartender, so he was sure to have one. She looked up at the clock as he filled her drink. It was forty minutes to midnight. Forty minutes before this would be over, and she was going to make the most of it. She clinked her glass with his. "To looking up," she said before downing the contents. "So, Killian, I daresay you're not from around here?"**_

_"Right on the money, what gave it away?" he teased her, "Was it the fact I'm actually a gentleman and that is such a rare breed around here?" Killian squelched the thrill that ran through him over her asking about his past.__It's just simple conversation, idiot, he had to remind himself._

**_She let out a little giggle, surprising herself. She didn't giggle, not at friends, and not at strangers serving her drinks, and yet, there was just something there. Something that made her feel so at ease. She could've easily blamed it on the alcohol, but she knew that would be a cop out excuse. It was him. "That was my second clue. I'm going to guess… Russian," she said, giving him a playful wink._**

_Killian responded with a playful frown a little shrug of his shoulders. "Dah, you catch me," he admitted in the worst Russian accent he had done in his life. He had to swallow a snort at the sound of his own voice before he continued. "So what you do with my great secret, comrade?" he asked, still holding back laughter at his own voice. Oh the things this girl was making him do._

**_She tried best not to laugh, but she couldn't hold it back. It was ridiculous what she was doing. She didn't just flirt like this. She never did anything remotely close to this, but Killian was pulling out this side in her she didn't know she had. "Is that why you live here now? Because I doubt they'd let you stay in Russia with that dreadful accent."_**

_"Oh, you wound me!" Killian uttered dramatically, putting his hand over his heart and affecting a wounded expression. "Must you speak of my expulsion from the beloved Motherland with such cruelty?" his voice had returned to its Irish brogue and he guessed there could be some damn twinkle in his eyes. So much for being the brooding bartender, he probably wasn't getting that reputation back, but if Emma stuck around he really didn't care._

**_Emma gave him a playful grimace, her smile still peeking through. She patted his arm soothingly. "Oh. Sensitive subject?" She let out a 'tsk' before leaning back. "I've always wanted to know about Russia, but if you don't feel up to it, we can always talk about where you're really from," she said, a genuine smile now on her lips._**

_"Alas, you see right through me. Well, if you must know," he trailed off, giving a sly look to either side of her before leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially, "I might just happen to be Irish." He pulled back a bit, one eyebrow quirking up. "Shocked?"_

**_Emma's eyes widened in mock shock, and she let a gasp escape her lips. "You're kidding me!" She leaned forward onto the bar. "Now, Ireland… That's the one with all those cute little guys that hide the gold, right?" she asked, biting her lip to hold back her laughter._**

_"See, that's just what we let you silly yanks think. Don't want you all to know the truth about the Green Isle," Killian told her sagely. "My turn, what made such a pretty face like yours choose this little place? The Blue Fairy's nice enough, but it isn't like it attracts people right in," he mused._

**_Emma looked around the establishment with a small smile, taking in some of the small trinkets that lined the walls. She'd just been passing by, prepared to take herself home when the ship's wheel in the window caught her eye. She gave the place a once over before deciding she needed a drink after all. Her gaze went back to him, and her smile widened once more. "I left the bar down the street and was just going to wrap up in a blanket at home to finish the night off. But then I saw your little place. It looked like it had a good story behind it."_**

_Killian smiled sheepishly and tilted his head. "Yes and no. First off, it's not mine, I just work here. But it's name and founding does have a story, it just happens to be a bit mad and fairly hilarious," he explained._

**_Emma waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, she looked at him expectantly and said, "Do I get to hear it? Or is that a story for another night?" She scolded herself internally. She'd been around the man less than an hour, and she was suggesting this would occur again. Emma wasn't sure what it was about him that made her feel so free, but she didn't mind the feeling at all._**

_Killian smirked at her implication, his tongue darting out over his lip before he bit down on his bottom lip. "No, it's just…it's really stupid. Kinda embarrassing to tell, but since you asked so nicely…" he trailed off, pushing off the counter and pulling out two glasses and walked down to fill them from the taps. Returning a few moments later Killian winked as he slid one of the glasses of beer over to her while taking a sip from the other._

_"So the original owner and founder was a sailor on this old ship. It's not really clear if he was a whaler, in the navy, or," Killian's dropped low as he said the next word, "A pirate. Now the story goes that he got absolutely hammered on absinthe one night while at sea, don't ask me how he got absinthe while in the middle of the Atlantic, I haven't the foggiest." He took a swig of his beer and cleared his throat before continuing._

_"So he's out on the deck sloshed on absinthe, which you may know is nicknamed 'the green fairy' and supposedly makes you hallucinate, and after awhile he did hallucinate. The old codger dreamed up that some little fairy, with what he insisted were massive…uh, assets," Killian gestured across his chest and smiled again, shaking his head. "Anyway, this little fairy flew down from a star and appeared to him. She was all dressed up and glowing in blue and she told him that he had discovered the secret to speaking to her. So in return, she had to tell him where a treasure was hidden. This is where the story gets dodgy to the point of no one having any idea what the hell happened. The general consensus is that the man was just drunk and stumbled onto some trinkets along his voyage that he chalked up to his dream, either because he was mad or an idiot. Eventually he came to our fair city and founded this pub, naming it after the blue fairy he had met before and leaving the wheel of his old ship in the window," Killian finished with a flourish._

_"Oh, there's one bit more. When the bar was going well, the old man figured he should go out on another voyage to find the fairy. So he went on a cruise, got smashed on absinthe, then fell into a wedding cake, and somehow managed to slide over the railing, cake and all," Killian shrugged as he stopped talking, taking a sip of beer and giving Emma an apologetic look._

**_Emma listened intently to Killian's story, hanging on every word he gave her, and sipping her beer occasionally. She could tell he found the story amusing; it bled into the way he told it. She was so enthralled by the way he told the tale. He had her so mesmerized that she knew she must look like an idiot, smiling like she knew she was. At one point in the story, she let out a snort at how outlandish the story sounded. Once he was finished, he hand flew to her mouth in shock. "Oh, my God… Is he…?" She asked, scrunching her nose up._**

_Killian nodded with a grimace, "Drowned inside a wedding cake. Probably. I kinda forgot about that part of the story until the end…makes it a bit less funny." He shrugged, what can you do, and put his glass down on the bar, leaning against it again._

**_"That's definitely a…uhm…different_****_way to go out," she said, mimicking his movement and leaning onto the bar. "Can't say it'd be fun, but…" She trailed off as the clock over his shoulder caught her eye. It was two minutes to midnight._****Have we been talking that long?****_She looked around to see some of the patrons getting together with their partners for midnight, and she thought about getting up and making her way out of the bar. She didn't want the situation with Killian to be one of those awkward things were everyone else kissed and they both just stood there doing nothing. She eyed the clock once more before giving him a look. "It's getting late…"_**

_"Really? And here it felt like you walked in here just three minutes ago," Killian murmured, just loud enough to carry over to her, "Feel like sticking around for another two and making it an even five?"_

**_She was suddenly nervous. She didn't want to jump to assumptions, but it felt like it was an invitation to stay for the certain big event, and she didn't have long to decide. She started to mull it over in her head, weighing the good and the bad, before realizing that she'd had more fun with this stranger than she'd had in a long time, and it'd be a shame to ruin it now. She let out a contented sigh, meeting his gaze, her bottom lip between her teeth. "I think I can spare a few more minutes."_**

_"Y'know…it's just New Year's, it doesn't have to be anything more if you don't want it to be…" his voice trailed off uncertainly, Killian wasn't exactly sure where those words had come from or where he was going, but he was more than a little sure that he didn't exactly mean them. Somehow, in the span of forty minutes, he had connected with the woman sitting in front of him, and he didn't want it to just end and fade away._

**_Emma was taken aback by his words, and she wasn't sure why they'd hit her the way they did._****_If you don't want it to be…She didn't understand where the feelings had come from, but something had stirred in the last forty minutes that she'd never felt in her life, and she didn't want it to just end on New Year's. She wanted to know what made him tick, what had led him here so that their paths would cross. "I don't think…" She trailed off, looking up at him through her lashes. "I don't think this is just a one day thing… Or is that just me?"_**

_"I don't…think…I've…got…a clue," Killian told her in between the chant of the other patrons counting down to midnight, leaning closer to her, his head tilting slightly to the side. The world faded out slightly, like a film had fallen over it all and muffled it, the only part still clear was Emma right in front of him._Three_…_

**_Emma felt her heart speed up as he inched closer and closer to her, her eyes falling to his lips for just a second. She felt like she was drowning in his presence, and she couldn't find it in her to care. She leaned in herself, using the bar for support, because she knew if she let go, she'd falter under his gaze._****Two_…_**

_He leaned closer, eliminating the last bit of distance between the two of them. Killian held his breath as they continued what felt like the most painfully slow kiss, although somewhere he knew that was just his mind slowing down every single detail in a frantic attempt to capture and remember it all.__One. Right as their lips were about to meet, there was the sharp crash of glass hitting wood that cut into the moment. Killian's head wanted to instinctively twist toward it, but whatever in the air tonight was a hell of a lot stronger than instinct. Or was a hell of a lot better instinct, because he kept his course and pressed his lips softly against hers, his lips parting slightly with a little sigh. Killian's hand drifted up and gently held her chin almost of it's own accord right as the crowd cheered and people randomly crashed together in their own lip-locks._

**_Emma ignored the crash of the bottle and was glad Killian had, too. Everything about the night had gone so well since she'd arrived at the bar, and she'd be damned if she let broken glass ruin the evening. When his lips touched hers, she let out something between a sigh and a gasp, the spark there surprising her. And when his hand cupped her chin, she brought her hand to rest on his arm, not to push him away, but to reassure her that he was actually there and that the moment was real. She held herself there for as long as she could, but like all moments, it had to end, and she pulled herself away, but not without a small smile on her face._**

**_"Happy New Year, Killian," she said, biting her lip to keep her smile from growing._**

___"Happy New Year, Emma," he replied, utterly failing at stopping the massive smile that had overtaken his face._


End file.
